Jessica Murray on the Sick Society

Molly Hall About.com

Jessica Murray on the Sick Society
Tuesday March 30, 2010


The author of Soul Sick Nation, Jessica Murray, has a thought-provoking take on the recent passage of what's being called health care reform. In her article, Masterpiece of Disingenuousness, she hones in on how reformer Aquarius got the ball rolling via the combo of Neptune-Chiron-Jupiter. But that once idealistic Jupiter in public-minded Aquarius zoomed ahead, the final bill -- without a public option -- passed with just Neptune-Chiron. Once the reform piece was jettisoned, writes Jessica, we're left with a bill is a symptom of a larger social illness.

The bill passes as Neptune and Chiron meet the U.S. natal Moon in the Sibly Chart (at 27 degrees Aquarius). She writes, "Neptune is about illusion: it teaches that things are never as they appear. As a Buddhist truth, this is pretty unarguable. But in the absence of spiritual maturity, the fullness of the idea doesn't translate; and we get stuck in the transit's dark side. We become vulnerable to deception: a crippling (Chiron) of our ability to discern the real from the unreal (Neptune)."

Jessica has a kind of sight that burns off the fog of our times. She invites readers to avoid the delusional trap of buying into the show of politics that's masking the hidden realities of power. She writes, "Health-care, like many another high-profile issue, has been presented as a rousing, nasty, "Left-vs-Right" match. But if we want to learn anything from the Neptune (drama, masques) transit, and that of the Cardinal Cross, we need to look beyond this cartoon narrative."

I've heard people rejoicing, on Cloud 9, that the bill went through. They think it means that people will get health care when they need it. Then there are those that are deluded in thinking it's a step toward socialized medicine. Both sides, it seems, don't come close to the core truth that it's a business deal. And that, as Jessica concludes, the country has become a plutocracy.

Last year, the New York Times reported that Genentech's talking points became part of the health care debate. That means that those representing the people are mouthpieces for biotech, along with big agra and big pharma. When you connect the dots, that might be why there's a new bi-partisan bill to control/restrict dietary supplements. It's all about profit before people, which gets back to that social illness mentioned earlier.

What I take from this article confirms my own sense that the cardinal cross demands that we go beyond surface spin/propaganda/talking points. I heard someone say the Democrats have been the lesser of two evils. My thought was, maybe so, but it's still evil. On the bright side, the pressures of the cardinal cross will provoke deep foundational changes. The point of Pluto in Capricorn is to eventually extract and purge evil thoroughly. It means raising the standards, and daring to re-humanize our public institutions. To somehow get back to creating societies that are centered around life and people, instead of the drive for power/wealth.

Do you agree with Jessica Murray's astro analysis? Is it possible to change society from the inside out?